The virgin birth was believed to be the divine impregnation of
a young woman by a god. The virgin mother-to-be deflowered herself be straddling
the sacred lingam--the god's erect penis--so it penetrated her. While conceiving
the god's son, the virgin placed a wreath of flowers upon the head of the
god's image. This was a symbolic act and reminiscent of the ancient Indian
svayamara ceremony. The wreath symbolized the virgin's genitals,
and the head represented those of the god's. Both the head and the lingam
were anointed with holy oil in honor of the divine marriage and for the
protection of the young woman during penetration. Such ceremonies were customary
throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean areas. The holy oil was chrism
and the god was a Christos or "Anointed One."

In Roman times this ceremony was very popular with young women. They
deflowered themselves upon the carved phalli of Hermes,
Tutunus, Priapus
or some other "anointed" god before lying with their bridegrooms.
Then the firstborn child was thought to be god-begotten. Thus came the phrase
"born by the grace of God."

Generally the early Church fathers were opposed to such a deflowering
ceremony as it was turning the birth of a Christos which they claimed
to be miraculous into an everyday event. Saint Augustine denounced older
women for encouraging young, engaged women to participate in the ceremony
because he claimed the young women were mislead when viewing it as "very
honest and religious." However, Lactantius, another early Christian
writer and Church father, explained the ceremony as rendering the bride
fruitful "by her communion with the divine nature."

Eventually the "divine nature" seemed to have evolved into
a devilish nature which gives rise to the speculation that the ceremony
lingered long after it was condemned. This is indicated in the confessions
which came out of the medieval witch trails where witches confessed to having
sexual intercourse with the devil. "They claimed his penis was hard
and cold, and his body was 'cold all over, like a creature of stone.' Such
a 'devil' could well have been a creature of stone in fact--that is, a statue
of Priapus or one of the other phallic gods, believed to beget Antichrist
in the classical manner, as the firstborn of a virgin mother." A.G.H.